Unkapitulierbar by Der Plan

Yes, indeed! You heard it correctly: Moritz R®, Kurt Dahlke aka Pyrolator and Frank Fenstermacher have met in the studio after 25 years and recorded a new album. For latecomers: One can claim without exaggeration that DER PLAN was one of the – and perhaps the most –powerful German bands during the time of musical departure at the beginning of the 1980s. Maybe they even still are?

DER PLAN was always more than a band: a kind of three-headed renaissance man, for whom visual art was just as important as music. The ATA TAK label, founded by Pyrolator, Reichelt and Fenstermacher, was one of the first continental European Indie labels and released albums by DAF, Andreas Dorau, Holger Hiller and Element of Crime. Reichelt designed covers for Depeche Mode and decisively initiated the Tiki/Lounge revival at the beginning of the 1990s. Fenstermacher played on the legendary "Monarchie & Alltag" by Fehlfarben and released a number of solo albums. Kurt Dahlke has remained active as a producer and programmer, most recently for Edgar Froese. "More art in music, more music in art" was the motto. And yet (or precisely for that reason?) Der Plan was not merely a cerebral band concept, but they were pop in the best sense: playful, fearless and curious, they always wanted to "work with the current state of technology and express ourselves," says Dahlke. And if the current state of technology wasn't sufficient, they simply plugged in the soldering iron. The Geri Reig principle, conceived by Der Plan, was an invented term that anticipated the idea of the "Geniale Dillettanten". As a result, Der Plan not only had fans throughout the West German in-crowd, but also enjoyed some acclaim in the USA, England and Japan. Daniel Miller, Tom Waits, Mark Ryden and countless others are among their listeners.

The defiant title of the new album translates as "Uncapitulable!" and signalizes both continuity and unbrokenness. That's hardly a given when three musicians have gone their own separate ways for a quarter of a century. As is often the case, an external occasion provided the spark for the idea of a comeback: as the birthday band at Andreas Dorau's 50th, the band discovered that they could still have fun playing music together – and so did the audience, with audible results. So the band collected sketches, fragments and ideas that had accumulated over the years and produced "Unkapitulierbar" in three weeks at Pyrolator's Ata Tak Studio Berlin. Moritz R: "It worked incredibly well". "This time the music was created on the basis of ideas and lyrics. Earlier, we often played improvised sessions and later added lyrics to it. One could say that in the meantime we have become something like songwriters," explains Reichelt. And "Der Plan 2017 is no longer so angular and swings better." But the music still sounds psychedelic: mild and sunny, as in "Es heisst die Sonne", "Come Fly with Me" or "Was kostet der Austritt?" or dark and eerie on "Ich kann die Stille hören" and "Gesicht ohne Buch". There is a kind of electronic shanty – "Wie der Wind weht" – and a pop song with "Lass die Katze stehn". On "Man leidet herrlich" – and not for the first time – reggae and dub references are apparent.

When writing a press release like this one, one often tries to draw comparisons to other bands. Any such attempt is impossible with DER PLAN because DER PLAN is DER PLAN! And "Unkapitulierbar" is a melodic, electronic, brightly colored kaleidoscope of an album. DER PLAN in 2017 sounds as timeless and modern as you might have hoped for. Buy this album and don't forget: "Wear the sun in your heart – and a funny hat!"

One more question to Moritz R.:
"Is there any special situation in which you would like
your audience to listen to your new album?"

- Reichelt: „YES!!!”